


Retrieving the Relic of Destruction

by bikingpaladin



Series: RWBY Inktober-Inspired Series [8]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Kissing, Multi, Polyamory, Relic of Destruction, Shade Academy, Swords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23883577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bikingpaladin/pseuds/bikingpaladin
Summary: AU set in a future where Ruby, Blake, and Weiss recover the Relic of Destruction.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Series: RWBY Inktober-Inspired Series [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676704
Kudos: 10





	Retrieving the Relic of Destruction

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of a prediction AU where I take some theories I really like about RWBY and apply them. I don't know how relevant this story will be later on but because it was written after the Volume 7 finale, I wouldn't read this until after you've watched to that point.
> 
> At this point, the team has the relic of knowledge (obtained by Yang) and the relic of creation (obtained by Nora), and have arrived at Shade Academy to obtain the relic of destruction. Ruby has become the Summer Maiden, which allows her to unlock the Shade Vault. Team JNPR at this point in the AU refers to Jaune, Nora, Penny, and Ren, as Penny has joined their team after this AU's events where the protagonists took both the relic of creation and Penny both obtained the Winter Maiden’s powers and chose to join the protagonists rather than continue to work for General Ironwood. This doesn’t mean that Pyrrha is forgotten or written out of the story, just that there’s a new member of the group who just happens to start with the letter P. Pyrrha is very much still beloved and relevant <3

“Yang, Jaune, Nora, Penny, and Ren have Professor Theo distracted. Let’s see what this relic vault looks like.” Weiss said.

They would have preferred to wait for Yang to sneak away, as originally the plan had only Team JNPR distracting Professor Theodore, but at this point, there was no way to extract Yang without the headmaster noticing her sneaking off. It would just have to be Ruby, Weiss, and Blake who retrieved the relic this time.

The three huntresses took the elevator down, down to a room that opened up into a lake surrounded by the mountains that the school itself was built upon. This lake had a large tree stump growing out of a floating platform, though it was clear that the tree had been cut down long ago, and the tree stump was long dead. Everything in the room reflected in perfect clarity on the crystal clear water of the lake which had gentle waves despite the lack of any wind. White marble stairs extended from the catwalk and to a wide sidewalk that circled the lake.

Blake questioned, “It’s a lake?”

The three of the women looked at each other.

“It kind of reminds me of the God of Light’s domain from Jinn’s vision.” Ruby said.

Weiss said, “It would make sense if Ozpin used the schools to hide not just the relics, but important locations from everyone.”

“He definitely kept a lot of secrets.” Ruby said.

As the three of them walked towards the lake, a glow emanated from Ruby, traveling down her legs and passing through the marble towards the lake. The light went into the lake and as it did, the ground of the vault began to rumble.

The huntresses were startled by the sudden appearance of a woman bursting from the lake - rising out of it arm-first and bearing a sword in her hand taller than two humans. This woman was giant - the same height and size as Jinn, who herself was approximately twelve feet tall - and this giant woman had long dark blue hair. Her skin glowed with beautiful blue light and she wore golden jewelry - almost the spitting image of Jinn herself, though the jewelry she wore was different and this woman’s eyes were hard. When she fully emerged, she stood on the lake’s surface as if it were a solid platform to her.

As Team RWB studied her, Ruby realized first that this giant woman held the sword of destruction in her right hand. In the giant woman’s hand, the sword of destruction had grown to a size more suitable for her, but bore the same golden hilt and light blue blade that Team RWB had been expecting the sword to have. As Ruby attempted to approach, the giant woman jabbed the sword in the group’s direction as a warning, and Ruby froze in place.

The giant woman commanded, “Why have you entered the Shade Vault?”

Blake and Weiss looked at Ruby, each gently squeezing one of Ruby’s shoulders with their hand. Hearing the unspoken “we’ll follow your lead,” Ruby felt empowered to speak.

“Vivian.”

As Ruby said the relic’s name, the sword of destruction and the giant woman guarding it glowed a golden light. The giant woman grew less hostile and stopped pointing the sword directly at the huntresses.

“We’re here to take the sword of destruction.” Ruby answered.

The giant woman casually admired her reflection in the sword’s blade, then traced the blade’s edge with her fingers. Despite the sword’s large size, the woman never held it with both hands - only ever one, her right side.

The giant woman asked, “For what purpose?”

“We need the sword to stop Salem.” Ruby said.

The giant woman considered this answer. Then, she held the sword up, brought it up vertically in front of her face, and swung it down in a flourish. Blake and Weiss unsheathed their weapons, but Ruby waited, only allowing her hands to drift towards Crescent Rose for a moment, before letting them fall to her sides as a show of pacifism.

Ruby didn’t think that they had to fight. Weren’t they all on the same side? There’s no way that the guardian of the relic should be against fighting Salem, as far as Ruby could tell.

“We don’t need to fight.” Ruby said. “We’re here to use the sword for its intended purpose. Please, just give us the sword of destruction and we’ll leave.”

The giant woman replied, “There is an ancient rule regarding the relic of this vault: the sword cannot be taken except through combat. While your reason is worthy, I am obliged to follow my design.”

Oh. So maybe they did need to fight...

“I understand.” Ruby said.

With a swift, clean motion, Ruby took out Crescent Rose and showed the scythe to the giant woman, hoping one last time that they didn’t have to fight. The giant woman took a single-handed low guard and hovered in the exact center of the lake’s surface, then watched the three huntresses closely, waiting for someone else to make the first move.

Ruby told her team, “Summon a Queen Lancer, then Checkmate.”

Weiss nodded before plunging Myrtlecaster into the ground. Ruby lunged forward towards the lake, prepared to catch the giant woman’s blade, but to her surprise, the giant woman summoned a wave of water and launched it towards Ruby and Weiss. Weiss finished summoning the Queen Lancer, but the wave of water dispelled the summons, and Weiss’s cry for help was cut short not by the wave crashing down on her, but by Blake launching herself to grab ahold of Weiss, then using a shadow clone to jaunt them out of way as the water boiled away anything it splashed upon.

Ruby burst into rose petals, then jumped over the wave, but as she turned back to human form, she was caught off-guard by the giant woman swinging the sword’s blade right at Ruby’s waist - the movement was so relaxed that Ruby nearly didn’t notice it was there. Ruby barely parried the slash with the rib of Crescent Rose before there was a second swing right at her, aiming from above. This was closer to how Yatsuhashi Daichi would slam the ground with Fulcrum, so rather than parry again, Ruby burst into rose petals and dashed, leaving the sword of destruction to crack only the earth with a thundering boom. As fluid as if she were in a ballet, the giant woman expertly flicked her sword back to a low guard before the dance of her footsteps took her across the lake away from Ruby, where Weiss had finished summoning an Arma Gigas.

Turning her attention now to Blake and Weiss, the giant woman traced the sword’s guard with a single finger. The sword’s golden guard began to glow red-hot, and a line of fire wound from the guard around the blade and then unwinded from around the sword’s point before it shot towards Blake and Weiss. Weiss flicked a protection glyph up in front of them to intercede and instead of burning out or ceasing, the fire pounded against the glyph’s surface, desperately trying to push through and incinerate them. As Blake and Weiss ran around the marble sidewalk, using Weiss’s time dilation glyphs to try and outpace the giant woman, the giant woman’s fire spell continued to follow them, simply biding its time before Weiss’s glyph ran out of power - the giant woman looked entirely confident that her sword wasn’t going to run out of power first. The Arma Gigas was too slow rounding the bend and the fire vanquished it instantly before the flame renewed its assault on Weiss’s protection glyph.

Ruby jumped and used her petal form to launch high, high into the air above the giant woman. The giant woman stopped using the line of fire to angle the sword in preparation for a riposte against Ruby, who was now falling towards her in human form, but as the giant woman attempted to point her sword higher, Gambol Shroud’s kusarigama wrapped around the sword’s guard and pulled the sword of destruction out of position at the last moment. The giant woman gasped as Crescent Rose’s belly hooked around her wrist and amputated her hand. The sword of destruction, parted from its wielder, shrunk to its original size and began to fall.

Ruby folded Crescent Rose and clipped it back to her belt. Ruby used her petal form to glide over the lake, retrieving the sword with her left hand before it could submerge, and she landed kneeling - still holding the relic in reverse grip. Blake and Weiss ran to Ruby’s side, helping Ruby stand and face the giant woman.

The giant woman chuckled as she picked up her fallen hand and reattached it to her stump as if screwing it back into place. Team RWB waited to see if the giant woman would continue her attack.

“Well fought, Summer Maiden.” The giant woman said.

The giant woman sunk back into the lake and was seen no more. The huntresses visibly relaxed and hugged each other, collapsing into a group embrace as they sat on the floor.

Ruby hoisted the sword of destruction above her head. “We did it.”

“Another relic obtained.” Weiss added.

Blake said, “Only one more to go - the relic of choice.”

Ruby hopped onto Blake’s lap. Blake set aside Gambol Shroud and wrapped her arms around Ruby’s waist while Ruby kissed Blake on the cheek. Weiss began to brush her hair as she listened to Ruby begin to regale the events of the fight that had just happened.

“We were amazing!” Ruby bragged. “Blake, you saved me just in time.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to yank the sword out of the way if Weiss hadn’t boosted me in the air with her glyphs.” Blake said.

Weiss said, “And I wouldn’t have been able to get Blake that high into the air if the vault guardian hadn't been watching you recklessly rush her.”

“Hey! You know you love me.” Ruby teased.

Weiss rolled her eyes, though a familiar smile betrayed her true feelings. “I do not.”

“I think you do, Weiss.” Blake joined in.

Weiss joked, “You two are insufferable.”

Ruby and Blake laughed as they took turns to kiss Weiss’s lips. Weiss leaned against Blake’s shoulder to join in as the three of them embraced each other in celebration of their victory, as well as a moment to breathe before they would continue their journey.

**Author's Note:**

> I went with the theory that Shade Academy's sword will have references to the Lady in the Lake, who gives Excalibur to King Arthur. The Relic of Destruction's name being Vivian is part of that theory. I don't have a lot of theories on what the guardian of the relic of destruction would look like, so I decided on the very simple idea that all of the relics have guardian spirits that look pretty much like Jinn. I'm not sure that all of the relics would be gold and blue colored - obviously the lamp of knowledge and the staff of creation are these colors because they were both gifts by the God of Light to humanity and those are his colors, but the sword of destruction and the crown of choice are gifts by the God of Darkness, and might use his colors instead of the God of Light.
> 
> The guardian of the relic of destruction primarily uses Form II lightsaber style fighting (Makashi). Reading notes about how Count Dooku was so confident in his fighting style that he never used two-handed grip was what inspired me to model her fighting after his attitude.
> 
> Even if Ruby is the Summer Maiden, I don't think she'd rely on those powers very much. I see her as taking Maria's advice that her semblance and her huntress training are still her most powerful assets. Thus, the power is only used to open the vault in this story.
> 
> My current plan is to do a different pairing for each story in this series. I went searching through RWBY Inktober prompt lists to get some inspiration.  
> Inktober Prompt List: https://twitter.com/LectraArt/status/1177946049769562112


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